


The Little Things

by spookyknight



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Klance Week 2017, Klance Week 2017: Sacrifice, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940748
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookyknight/pseuds/spookyknight
Summary: Being a Paladin of Voltron isn’t always easy. Sometimes, the little things teammates do to help each other out can mean a lot.





	The Little Things

Allura finally wraps up the debriefing after what feels like hours of debating how the whole ion-cannon-nearly-destroys-the-Castle mid-battle snafu could have been avoided. With their leader missing, the team is stretched thin. Coran is left alone during each skirmish and everyone’s been working hard to shore up the Castle’s defenses.

 

The group disperses, Pidge partnering up with Coran to take another look at the particle barrier and Hunk heading to the hangar to repair some recent damage to his Lion. After countless quintents of nearly round-the-clock activity, Lance is beyond ready to slink off and catch up on sleep.

 

“Lance! Hold on a tick.” Allura’s leader-voice grates through him. “You still need to perform maintenance on the defense drones.”

 

Lance whirls around, his eye twitching. He loves their Altean caretaker, he really does, but the blue paladin is primed and ready to snap.

 

Keith steps in—literally moving in front of Lance. “Actually, I wanted Lance to run through some drills with me.”

 

“Oh.” Allura looks back and forth between them; her tense posture loosens. “Alright, then. But first thing tomorrow, I need you to work on those drones.”

 

Lance feigns a smile. “Sure thing, Princess.”

 

* * *

 

Lance trudges through the hallway behind Keith. It’s outta the frying pan and into the fire. At least programming defense drones is mostly stationary. He doesn’t know how he’s going to summon the energy to physically train.

 

He stretches, grunting when he feels his back pop. “Can we wrap this drill thing up quickly? I am _this_ close to passing out.”

 

“Relax. That was just a fib to get you out of maintenance duty,” Keith admits. “You need a break.”

 

Lance’s jaw drops. “You _lied_ to the Princess?”

 

“It’s a white lie.” Keith shrugs. “Allura’s under a lot of pressure, she needs to always be doing something and it makes her feel better knowing we’re busy too. I get that. But you look absolutely beat. You can’t function like this.”

 

“Wow.” Lance gapes at the red paladin. “That’s…surprisingly observant of you.”

 

“I’m observant,” Keith protests.

 

Lance holds up his hands in defense. “I know. You are. Just…not always about people.” _Not about me_ , he doesn’t say. “So where are we going to go to hide out?”

 

“Uh…our rooms?”

 

“You haven’t really thought this plan out, have you?”

 

Keith throws his hands up. “I was _trying_ to do you a favor!”

 

“And I’m _grateful_ ,” Lance retorts. “But we need to make ourselves scarce for this to work. I think I know a place.”

 

He leads his companion to one of his favorite spots on the ship: the Altean holodeck. There hasn’t been much downtime to explore its features, so this is a treat.

 

“Are we supposed to be in here?” Keith asks.

 

“No.” Lance deadpans. “We’re supposed to be training. Come on.”

 

He gestures for Keith to follow him to the central column. There, Lance places the mind-meldy headset over the red paladin’s head.

 

“OK, quick,” Lance says. “What’s your favorite place in the universe?”

 

Keith frowns. “I don’t know.” Lance levels him with a look and he balks. “You put me on the spot!”

 

“Alright, okay. Just…” Lance sighs. “You enjoyed Olkarion, right? Because it was quiet.”

 

“It was peaceful, yeah.”

 

“So: a forest.” Lance motions for Keith to close his eyes and, amazingly, he obeys. “Picture yourself in a forest. The most peaceful fairy tale woodland you can imagine.”

 

Keith takes a deep breath. In and out. The white expanse of the room flutters green—leaves blowing in the wind. The airy shapes take form: tall tree trunks, overlapping branches, verdant undergrowth.

 

There’s a dizzying sensation of movement as the image shifts. The ground rises up until they’re amid the thick forest canopy. An intricate network of lofted buildings form a treetop village, a kind of charming composite of Endor’s moon and Lothlórien.

 

The platform they end up standing on provides a panoramic view of the treehouse city. A round swinging bed crowded with pillows hangs on sturdy ropes from the cabana roof. There’s gauzy mosquito netting draped gracefully around each column and fairy lights tucked under the eaves.

 

“Not bad.” Lance takes in the facsimile, impressed. “Your imagination has got some talent.”

 

Keith opens his eyes and looks a bit dazzled at his own daydream. “It read my mind?”

 

“Basically. It’s never exact but it gets pretty darn close.” He strides over to the swing-bed with a smirk. “One bed? Keith, you dog. If you want a cuddle you just have to say so.”

 

Keith glowers. “I don’t think you factored into my ‘happy place.’”

 

“Ouch.” Lance mock-gasps, a hand over his heart. He climbs onto the soft mattress, near the middle so it doesn’t tip over, but leaving enough space for a friend. “I’ll overlook that, since I owe you.”

 

He pats the space next to him. Keith looks on, skeptical, and Lance puts on the most earnest expression he can manage. Finally, the red paladin returns the headset to the column and climbs onto the mattress next to Lance.

 

When they’re settled, Lance shifts his weight so the bed starts swinging rhythmically. Keith scoots closer, throwing an arm around his companion’s middle. Lance’s pulse races. This is probably a bad idea.

 

Voltron is in a tight spot. They need to focus; now is not the time to be toying with unspoken feelings. But Keith leans into him and he’s warm and sleepy and maybe Lance _could_ stop himself from combing his fingers through Mullet’s stupid hair but it’s infuriatingly silky and he doesn’t want to.

 

“Thanks,” Lance murmurs, so as not to disturb the moment. “I know you’re really worried about Shiro. It…it means a lot that you spoke up for me.”

 

“Everyone’s working really hard.” Keith looks up at him. “You think I don’t notice that you’ve been putting in extra time on the training deck and giving Pidge upgrade suggestions and strategizing with Allura and Coran.” He runs his fingers over Lance’s spine and smiles when the blue paladin shudders. “But I do.”

 

Lance hums and snuggles closer, not trusting his voice.

 

“And I’m _grateful_ ,” Keith quips.

 

Lance scoffs. “Yeah, yeah.”

 

Keith laughs, a light airy sound that dwindles into steady breathing. “Get some rest.”

 

Lance wraps himself up in the red paladin, drifting off to the sound of a fabricated breeze blowing through digital leaves.

 

* * *

 

It’s always the little things. Those small things that make you sit up and take notice—or, those tiny things that you overlook. In Lance’s case, it’s four Altean rodents. Not long after the two paladins doze off, the mice tattle on them.

 

“Technically,” Allura says, “They’re misappropriating Castle technology, disobeying orders, and quite literally sleeping on the job.”

 

Coran nods, then tilts his head in thought. “On the other hand, they are bonding as teammates.”

 

“True.” Allura smiles. “And I suppose they’ve earned a short respite.”

 

“And it’s quite a touching scene.”

 

“It is.” She squares her shoulders, decided. “Give them two varga. Then end the simulation and make sure they hit the floor when you switch it off.”

 

“Yes, Princess.”

 


End file.
